I am an entrepreneur, author, and public speaker on organizational leadership, marketing, and social technology. Today I am co-founder and CEO of SocialxDesign, a new social technology consulting company at the intersection of marketing and human empowerment. For the 2012 election, SocialxDesign advised a number of groups -- including the DNC -- on multicultural outreach strategy.
In prior roles, I served as a senior member of the social-technology team at Deloitte Consulting, chief marketing officer for a publicly traded company, and managing partner of The Conversation Group (TCG), one of the first social-technology consulting firms. I'm a founding fellow at the Society of New Communications Research (SNCR) and a board member at Latinos for Social Media (LATISM).

Do CEOs Matter (Anymore)?

CEOs – especially at times of great pressure and uncertainty – need to help others make sense, to orient and to provide focus in a world that seems to be careening from one unexpected event to another. In this kind of world, one of the biggest risks is to fall into reaction mode, scrambling to respond to each and every thing that comes at us. That response leads to spreading resources too thinly across too many fronts, and reinforces a short-term perspective that compounds the problem.

What can leaders do to help make sense of their environments? They can harness the power of narrative,not to be confused with what some refer to as story.

While it may seem a trivial distinction, narrative – at least the way we define it — differs from story in several ways.

First, story chronicles the path and progress of a limited set of protagonists – from the beginning, through the middle, to the end of a story arc. Narratives, in contrast, are designed for a growing number of protagonists — many of whom are yet to be defined — who share a common quest or journey that is yet to be fully resolved or completed. Narratives are not new, of course. Some are ancient (Christianity – mankind is redeemed through sacrament). Some are part of our national mythology (Manifest Destiny). Some rich narratives can be condensed down into memorable slogans, as in recent political campaigns (“yes, we can,” a contemporary reframing of the Cesar Chavez/United Farms Workers banner, “si se puede”).

But what’s becoming increasingly apparent is that narratives are de rigueur in the postdigital world, where businesses and not just movements need to engage complex ecosystems of market participants. Narratives help to focus us in the face of an avalanche of events by simplifying and getting to the essence of what we need to understand. They provide a “true north,” so we can develop a shared understanding of where we are headed and of the challenges we will confront along the way. Armed with the right narrative, we can safely distinguish between meaningless surface events and what’s really important.

The power of narrative, in part, increases in the postdigital world because, in a world of accelerating change and expanding uncertainty, we all crave more stability. Narratives provide a foundation that we can always count on and bring us back to solid ground, even when everything seems to be coming apart. Leaders who can provide that stabilizing force by crafting and communicating compelling narratives can motivate people to do awesome things.

Also: narratives recognize that people are not driven purely by facts and figures. People have complex emotions and cognitive biases that can become particularly problematic in times of rapid change. A host of recent books by new thinkers such as Daniel Kahneman (Thinking, Fast and Slow), Dan Ariely (Predictably Irrational) and Daniel Pink (Drive) summarize a growing body of scientific research that drive home this point. Narratives can help people to overcome cognitive biases and harness emotions in powerful ways that magnify impact.

Another way that narratives differ from stories is that narratives are active. Narratives not only engage but mobilize. They invite participation by a growing number of people.

Example: for years, “Think different” has been the condensed slogan for the powerful Apple narrative that inspires employees, customers, partners, investors, and influencers — all around the world — in powerful new ways. “Think different,” “Just do it,” and “Yes, we can” speak directly to you and ask you to do something. This matters, as we shall see later, because part of leading in a leaderless world is being able to foster leadership. And the easiest way to do this is to motivate others to take action on their own, wherever they are and whatever their context might be, without waiting for instructions. Actions may speak louder than words, but there is nothing as powerful as words that spur action. Do not underestimate them.

But there’s something even more interesting about narrative that CEOs need to understand. From our experience, opportunity-based narratives (i.e., “we can work together to create something new and wonderful”) tend to trump threat-based narratives (i.e., “we must act because we are under attack”) for two reasons. Threat-based narratives focus people on shorter time horizons because of the urgency created, leaving them with less sense of direction for the longer-term (i.e., what do we do after the threat has been addressed?). Opportunity-based narratives also tend to focus people on how to create new forms of value, rather than simply defending what already exists. The leader who can frame an opportunity in a clear and compelling way can keep people energized and mobilized in a sustainable effort to create new value beyond any near-term threat.

Platforms for Leadership

In parallel, CEOs need to help people within their firms, and across their ecosystems, make progress in times of mounting pressure. As we discussed in an earlier article, people are becoming increasingly empowered as a result of forces playing out on the business landscape. But for CEOs, the opportunity is to define and deploy platforms that will help to amplify the impact of individual initiatives. Platforms can help small moves, smartly made, set big things in motion. In their richest form, they unleash network effects and increasing returns that can rapidly scale.

Post Your Comment

Post Your Reply

Forbes writers have the ability to call out member comments they find particularly interesting. Called-out comments are highlighted across the Forbes network. You'll be notified if your comment is called out.